Hello, readers!
I hope that August was a restful month for you! It definitely was for me.
As I mentioned in last month’s writing update post, I was trying to act as a full-time author while, IRL, I was managing a full-time summer job, a part-time permanent job, and other commitments outside of writing. This led to a very increasingly-unstable, unsustainable writing journey.
I decided to take time off in August to slow down, stop, and assess what was going on in my writing life to make it significantly more sustainable. This included taking time off from writing newsletters, regular social media uploads, and youtube videos.
Fortunately, taking time off was the right choice. In addition to finishing up my summer job, I also had plenty of time to reassess what was working for me and what wasn’t. So, today’s post is a breakdown of what I need to change and how I’ll be changing it.
Publications.
I’ve been publishing two books a year since 2025, with the intention of trying to increase book sales and get more readers to stay interested in my work.
This has also led to a lot of stress on my own well-being trying to sort out two publications at once.
Previously publishing two to three books a year doesn’t seem like a lot compared to others. However, one must consider everything else that goes into a book release:
- Designing the book cover (or hiring someone else to do so, which takes time either way)
- Formatting the books (or hiring someone else to do so, which takes time either way)
- Creating ads and scheduling them to be posted online
- Getting ARC readers for said books and delivering ARC copies to readers, as well as following up with them so they have reviews published.
- Setting up the book for preorder
- Spreading the word about the book being out either by word of mouth or otherwise, aside from investing in ads ads
- Promoting the books post-release!
And I have to repeat this cycle for every single book I publish. This list above doesn’t even include other things like getting ISBNS, making sure the book is edited properly or as well as possible, etc. There is a lot of work that goes into each book, and that’s a lot for full-time authors – and especially a part-time author like myself – to manage at once, even if we outsource various tasks (like book cover designs and formatting for example ) to other people.
I know there are other authors that somehow publish 5+ books a year, and I applaud them for doing so. If that’s a pace that they can go at, that’s great!
However, I realized that this isn’t really for me. I can be impatient about all the projects I want to start and finish (I have no shortage of book writing ideas and projects right now), but I also want to write and publish in a way that doesn’t make me feel like I’m an endless content machine.
If I continue publishing books at this fast of a pace, it will only lead to burnout for me.
To counter this, I will be slowing down book publishing for the future until further notice, back down to 1 book a year instead of the 2-3 books a year pace I’ve been going at for 2026 and 2025. What does this mean?
I will only be publishing one book in 2027.
I initially had plans to publish two poetry books in 2027. Instead, I’m only publishing one. I’ll be aiming for an early October 2027 release (to-be-confirmed, this is just a plausible release date area for now).
I do not have the energy, time, and resources to market two books at once. I realize that trying to do so was a major reason for why previous publications haven’t done so well with book sales recently. Instead, I want to focus 2027 on that ONE book, and see what happens.
I’m also cancelling the Harlow Mystery Omnibus that I originally had planned for June 2027. It does kind-of suck for me since 2027 marks the fifth anniversary of the Harlow Mystery series’ first book, Winner Takes All. However, I promise that there will be something else planned to celebrate that occasion – just not a new book release. I thank all of you readers for your patience as I slow down to a better, more-sustainable pace!
Other Aspects Of My Writing Life
Other elements of my writing life outside of writing will also be affected by my slowing down of publishing, writing, etc. And that mostly includes the following:
1. Youtube Videos
At this time, I can’t guarantee posting regular videos and shorts to my Youtube channel. At least, not four videos a month like I did back in July, and definitely not even three or two videos. However, I would love to still post highlights about writing conferences and summits that I attend where possible, at least, and I hope that will be insightful to my fellow writers too!
Given this, I am going to try to stick to a schedule of posting one longer video each month at minimum, moving forward. I still want to use this as an opportunity to discuss more of the business side of being an part-time author, or talk about my experiences with other writing events and opportunities like going to conferences and summits! There might be a month or two where I post more than usual, and other months you might just get one video. But by sticking to a one video each month schedule, at least I can
2. Email Newsletters – every 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month but with extras as needed!
Something that annoyed me about writing and sending email newsletters almost-strictly every 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month was that some book sales didn’t align with either of those times of sending the newsletters. Also, some recent interviews and other publications (like contest wins, guest blogs, and so on) might not also be published at the same time as said regular newsletters.
Given this, you can expect the main writing progress newsletters to continue being shared every 2nd and 4th Tuesday each month. However, there may be additional newsletters inbetween those times to keep you readers better updated on what I’ve been up to!
Also: I’ve changed newsletter providers to Email Octopus!
Hopefully I don’t have the same issue like I did last year with Kit.com. Fortunately, I have already tested it out a bit and it should be working properly this time around.
All current email subscribers have already been set up on Email Octopus, so you don’t have to do anything to change providers! If you’re new to my work or not following my email newsletter already, however, you can click the button below to sign up!
The first newsletter of September will be coming this Tuesday, September 8th!
3. Social Media – not posting every day and other adjustments.
I tried posting every day for a while, during a couple of months this year. This drained me a LOT more than I thought, ironically, despite me working in digital marketing/communications outside of being an author.
Instead of posting every day, I’ll probably post a few times a week instead. Of course, social media posts will ramp up during times of book releases and/or sales, but I hope to be more active in other ways than just constant self-promo. I might not be posting nearly as often as I used to (so probably not EVERY day unless I’m promoting an upcoming book or a specific sale), but I still will try to post every so often.
I hope that slowing down the pace of social posting will be helpful for me, and so I can spend more time on socials also boosting fellow writers and their amazing work, too!
What does this mean for the rest of 2026?
I appreciate all of your patience as I start getting used to a more sustainable pace for myself writing-wise. I’m really excited about this next step in my journey – one that involves taking my time more with enriching my writing journey in ways that are more fun, fulfilling and purposeful. In a world where everything seems to rely on accelerating the pace, I want to slow down and actually enjoy this journey rather than rush through it.
Thank you for supporting the next chapter of my writing journey!
It means a lot to me that all of you readers are still here to support what comes next! I hope that all of you support my next steps and look forward to reading what I have to share with all of you!